


Rivalling a Weasley

by everlovingdeer



Series: Harry Potter Short Stories [31]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Background Relationships, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Infidelity, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-11
Updated: 2019-09-11
Packaged: 2020-10-14 20:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20606555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/everlovingdeer/pseuds/everlovingdeer
Summary: “CarefulFreddie,” I warned, retreating slightly until Angie was standing in front of me, acting as a barrier between Fred and I. No matter how angry he was at me, Fred wouldn’t drag Ali and Angie into our feud. “We wouldn’t want my brother to hear you threatening me, now would we? We both know what Oliver’s like.”He glared at me, silently promising retaliation. “This isn’t over, Wood.”“It never is, Weasley.”





	1. Rivalling a Weasley

**Author's Note:**

> This was first written a while back - 24/11/2013 and hasn't only been edited slightly before being posted here

The moment we, Oliver and I, had set foot on the train he turned to look at me with a slightly pleading look.

“What?” I asked as I followed him down the train.

“Don’t cause any trouble this time,” he said firmly, “Please. Let’s just get to Hogwarts and you can cause whatever trouble you want and I won’t butt in.”

“Please,” I scoffed with a roll of my eyes, “You’ve got too much of an older brother complex to not get involved my business.”

He didn’t even try to deny it. We continued further into the train and Oliver ducked into a carriage that contained his friends. I continued further down the train, not having seen any of my friends so far. Two identical red-haired boys exited the carriage in front of me and walked away with their backs towards me.

I tried to fight against the impulse that was stirring inside me, I really did. My attempt was almost successful, I had almost passed the carriage before turning around and heading into the empty carriage. Reaching into my pocket I curled my hand around the small vial I was hiding; I knew buying this had been a smart decision. 

Once I was finished I exited the carriage quickly, looking around to see if the coast was clear, before I hurried to find my friends. Spotting the carriage they were in, I walked in with a mischievous grin on my face. Putting my trunk away, I sat across from Angelina who was watching me suspiciously. Whenever I had this expression on my face she instantly became wary.

“Alright,” Angelina finally said with a slightly resigned smile. “What have you done now?”

Alicia answered the question before I could, entering the carriage to sit beside me. “Knowing her she’s probably planning how to prank Fred before he pranks her. Don’t you remember the outrage she felt last year when he got her first? We didn’t stop hearing about it until the Christmas holidays and even then she always mentioned it in her letters.”

“There’s no need to plan something that’s already been done, Ali.” Seeing the look she was giving me, I gave her a small smile, “What? It’s not like I can let him beat me this year too.”

“What did you do?” She asked, wanting to disapprove but her curiosity got the better of her.

I lowered my voice slightly just in case he had somehow managed to hear me. “Let’s just say that he should find a nasty surprise in a few minutes.”

Angie rose to her feet and shut the carriage door. Leaning her back against it, she looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “What alibi do you need us to supply you with?”

Merlin, I had the best friends.

“That I found the two of you in the train station and we all walked onto the train together,” I said with a shrug, “And that I never left your side since boarding the train.”

They agreed easily and settled back down into their seats as the train pulled out of the station. The conversation flowed easily and as we walked, my eyes kept flickering to the door. It all depended on when Fred decided to get changed into his school uniform. I bounced slightly in my seat, barely able to contain my excitement. When Fred didn’t run into the carriage for almost an hour I felt my excitement die down slightly; I guess I’d have to wait longer. Giving all of my attention to Angie and Ali, I jumped when the carriage door was opened with a slam. My eyes widened at the sound – it was time.

There was a furious exclamation, “What the hell did you do?!”

Looking into the open doorway I saw an incredibly angry Fred Weasley standing in the doorway. My eyes scanned over him from head to toe, taking in his uniform that had been successfully changed into a Slytherin uniform. My mouth twitched into a smile which I quickly hid. What was a nastier surprise for a Gryffindor then having to parade around as a Slytherin? 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I denied innocently, looking away from Fred and down to my hands. I couldn’t keep a straight face for long so instead I made sure to not look at him.

“What the hell did you do, Wood!” He repeated, stepping towards me. His one move had me on edge, making me rise from my seat. Ali and Angie rose carefully from their seat, ready to intervene if we looked like one of us was going to kill the other. “You had better tell me Wood, or I swear –”

“Careful _Freddie_,” I warned, retreating slightly until Angie was standing in front of me, acting as a barrier between Fred and I. No matter how angry he was at me, Fred wouldn’t drag Ali and Angie into our feud. “We wouldn’t want my brother to hear you threatening me, now would we? We both know what Oliver’s like.”

He glared at me, silently promising retaliation. “This isn’t over, Wood.”

“It never is, Weasley.”

He met my eyes one more time and I smirked, my eyes not leaving his. He broke eye contact first as he turned on his heels to walk out of the carriage. I let the giggles that I forced myself to suppress out; Fred looked surprisingly good in Slytherin green.

“How is he supposed to change the robes back?” Ali asked as she shut the carriage door and we all returned to our seats.

“Relax,” I said dismissively, “It’ll wear off before we even reach Hogwarts.”

* * *

Fred hadn’t retaliated yet. It had been well over two months since the school year had started since I had pulled the prank on him and he had not retaliated. In fact, there was no sign that he would. It just put me more on edge. Normally Fred would retaliate within the same week if not the same day and this long period of time with no prank from him just made me think that he was planning something bug. Ali claimed that Fred must have matured over the summer but I sincerely doubted it. I mean, this was Fred Weasley that we were talking about. The three of them; Fred, George and Lee were up to something.

I was sat in the common room, my eyes warily on the twins as they sat in the corner with Lee. I was supposed to be concentrating on Defence against the Dark Arts but I couldn’t. Letting out a small sigh I angled my body away from them slightly so that I couldn’t see the three boys and set my DADA textbook in my lap.

When I opened the textbook, a small cloud of white powder erupted from between the pages. I squeezed my eyes shut as the white powder sprayed up into my face, coming into contact with my skin. I flinched as the powder took effect. It burned.

There was laughter from somewhere in the common room, laughter that I easily recognised. Instantly I knew who was at fault. I rose quickly to my feet, wiping my eyes with my robe before opening my now sore eyes. The intensity of the burning sensation grew to the point where I was running out of the common room and to the nearest girl’s toilets. 

Once I was in the toilets I washed the powder off of my hands before splashing my face with water repeatedly. The burning continued even after the powder was all gone. Running the cold water, I tried to cool my flaming face. It worked marginally and I looked at my face in the mirror. I gasped; it looked like I’d gotten badly sunburnt all over my face.

“What’s the matter?” Fred’s voiced asked tentatively making me turn to see him hovering awkwardly by the door.

“This is the girl’s toilets, Fred.” I gave him a look; eyes narrowed at him as he walked towards me. “What are you even doing in here?”

“You rushed so quickly out of the common room that I came to check on you,” he explained, his voice trailing off when he saw the state of my face. He reached out tentatively towards me, trailing a hand softly across my cheek. I flinched at the pain the gentle touch caused. “The powder wasn’t supposed to hurt you.”

“I guess that I’m allergic to something in the powder, that’s all,” I said, hating the guilt in his voice. I felt the need to reassure him; this pranking thing was supposed to be fun and light-hearted, guilt didn’t belong in it. “Honestly Fred, I’m fine so stop worrying.”

He let out a quiet sigh and reached into his pocket to pull out a tablet. Holding it out for me to take he explained, “This should help with the reaction.”

“Thanks.”

Taking the tablet from him I swallowed it dry and glanced at my reflection. My face was slowly returning to normal. I met Fred’s eyes through the mirror as he stood nervously behind me. When I turned back to face him, I raised an eyebrow at his unusual behaviour. 

“Maybe this is a sign,” he suggested after a short silence.

“A sign saying what exactly?” I crossed my arms over my chest. 

“I think we need a truce Wood. Maybe we should stop this before one of us gets properly hurt.”

He extended a hand towards me and I glanced up at him suspiciously. His earnest eyes held mine. 

“Alright,” I agreed reaching out to shake his hand. “Let’s call a truce.”

* * *

Fred, because of our truce, had seemed to decide that if he wasn’t going to prank me then I would be the perfect person to act like an idea board. I knew all about the shop the twins one day hoped to open and Fred would suggest ideas to me of potential products to see what I thought about them.

I was sitting at the Gryffindor table for lunch when he slid in opposite me. Looking down at the parchment in front of me, I was too busy checking Snape’s essay to give him more than a parting greeting. I had Snape first thing after lunch and everyone knew that Snape was harder on Gryffindors than on any other house. 

“What do you think about the canary creams?” He asked, getting straight to the point. 

“I think they’ve got a lot of potential if you develop them properly.” I tidied my essay away and looked at Fred contemplatively, “But if I had, to be honest, I prefer the ton tongue toffees, they sound really unique.”

“Really?” He grinned and I nodded.

“If you can get them right then I’ll be impressed; it’ll take some superior magic to get them working.”

“Hey, babe.” I scrunched my nose in distaste when a pair of arms snuck around my shoulder. 

Bradley, the Slytherin sitting next to me, was a good guy. Over the past few weeks, he had grown on me but I wasn’t necessarily pleased to have been called his girlfriend. To be honest, when he had asked me to go out with him, I hadn’t wanted to say yes. But I had been surrounded by his friends and by my friends who were all pushing me to say yes. And whilst I wasn’t proud to admit it, I succumbed to peer pressure.

“New boyfriend?” Fred asked as I shrugged the arm off from my shoulder, his voice tight.

“Yeah.” 

“How long have the two of you been going out?” He turned his eyes sharply to Bradley who was too busy talking to another Slytherin who had walked up behind him.

“We haven’t been together that long,” I said thoughtfully, “I think it’s been a few weeks or so.”

“It’s been a _month _babe,” Bradley cut in, having finished talking to his friend.

Turning to face the boy at my side I quirked an eyebrow, “It has?”

“It has.” He nodded before excusing himself and returning to his own table. 

When he was out of earshot Fred gave me a flat look.

“Why the hell are you dating him?” At my look, he went on. “It’s obvious that you don’t like him but you’re still going out with him. A relationship is supposed to be something you’re in with someone you’re attracted to. Are you even attracted to him?”

“I’m not,” I admitted quietly, “I didn’t even want to go out with him.”

“Then why are you?”

“Don’t get me wrong, I like him. I think in other circumstances then we’d have been good friends. I’m weak-willed; you know that.” I shrugged my shoulders. “Everyone was pushing me to date him and I caved under the pressure. Right now I’m hoping he’ll get fed up and just break up with me soon.”

“And you can’t break up with him because?”

“Because I’m not good at doing things like that.”

Fred narrowed his eyes at me but made no other comment. It was a weak excuse but it was the only one I had.

* * *

A few weeks later when I was coming back to the common room from my last lesson of the day I stopped in my step as someone emerged from around the corner. My lips parted in a silent gasp.

“Bradley?”

Hearing my voice, Bradley turned to face me. I scanned him from head to toe as he stood across from me, drenched in vile green pus that smelled absolutely rancid. Whatever was in the pus was causing painful-looking boils to sprout across his skin.

“What happened?”

“What happened?” He repeated, a sarcastic smile on his face as he shook his head in disbelief. Outstretching his arms he gestured to his entire body, “Look at me! I was walking through the corridor, trying to get back to the common room. The next thing I know, I’m covered in this, this … _stuff_ that smells like dog shit and boils are appearing all over me! I swear the moment I get my hands on Weasley –”

“Weasley?” I asked, not willing to get any closer to him. “Which Weasley?”

“Fred Weasley, of course.” He rolled his eyes, “Who else would be responsible for this?”

“Bradley, Fred wouldn’t do this.”

“Really?” He raised an eyebrow, “And why wouldn’t he do this?”

“Fred Weasley does a lot of things but he doesn’t do them without reason.” I set my hands on my hips, “So what reason would he have to do this to you?”

Bradley scoffed and muttered to himself, “I need to get this stuff off of me.”

Brushing past me he walked down the corridor, leaving a trail of the pus on the floor after him. Making the rest of the way to the common room I couldn’t help but think back to Bradley’s words. Fred wouldn’t have done that, surely? 

Of course, he wouldn’t have.

Approaching the Fat Lady, I muttered the password and headed quickly into the common room, ignoring her mutter of ‘rude’. Storming into the common room my eyes scanned the room and narrowed on the troublesome trio in the corner. Walking over towards them I waited for them to finish their conversation. Once they had finished talking, they looked at me.

“Can I have a word with you, Fred?”

“Yeah –”

Once the word had left his mouth I took a hold of his tie. His eyebrows shot up in surprise as I yanked his tie and dragged him to the other more empty side of the common room. As he followed behind me, he shot a confused look at George and Lee form over his shoulder. Letting go of his tie I watched him straighten his uniform out. When he was done, he straightened up and met my eyes.

“You –”

“So you really meant one word huh?” He grinned playfully but it slowly diminished when he noticed my steady glare. “Wood?”

“Did you prank him, Fred?” I didn’t even need to clarify why I was talking about. His facial expression gave me my answer and I let out a sigh. “Why Fred?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you prank him and to such an extent at that? That wasn’t your usual harmless prank.”

He glanced away from me. “I have my reasons.”

“Merlin, Fred I defended you. I defended you for pranking my boyfriend.”

“You don’t even like him!” He interjected, becoming quiet when I gave him a look.

“That’s beside the point; I think I deserve to know the reason why.” He remained silent and I let out another sigh. Merlin he was infuriating, “I can’t believe you! I actually thought that we could get along and Merlin Fred, we _were_ getting along. We became friends. But then you come along and do this!”

“Shut up,” He said, his voice thunderous but quiet so I was the only one to hear it. He walked towards me and I found myself backing up into a secluded corner of the common room that was hidden from any prying eyes. He pressed his hands against the wall on either side of my head.

“Fred –”

Lowering his head he spoke quietly to me, “You wanted to know why I pranked him, right?” I nodded slowly, “Then meet me here, after curfew.”

With that he pulled away from me and returned to George and Lee, leaving me alone.

That night I met Fred, as he had instructed, after curfew in the middle of the common room. He turned to lead me out of the common room but I paused in my step.

“What if we get caught?” I asked making him pause in his step to look at me.

“We won’t – I know some secret passages that even the teachers don’t know about. There’s no way we’ll get caught.” He held out a hand for me to take. “Now, are you coming or not?”

Setting my hand in his, I let him lead me out of the common room. True to his words he did know a lot of secret passages and somehow we appeared near the great hall. Fred ducked behind one of the pillars, pulling me beside him.

“What are we doing here?” I asked quietly.

He nodded his head to show me where to look, “Watch.”

Following his gaze, I felt my eyebrows furrow when Bradley stepped out of the shadows. What was the doing here so late in the night? He was obviously waiting for someone. A second figure stepped out of the shadows, this one distinctly female. She walked towards him immediately. An uncomfortable feeling twisted in my stomach as I watched him kiss her. I might not have had feelings for him but that didn’t mean that I went around cheating on him. I had remained faithful to him.

They pulled away from each other and started to speak, their quiet voices carrying across the empty room towards Fred and me.

“When are you going to break up with her?” She asked making Bradley let out a sigh.

“You know I can’t.” I raised an eyebrow. “Not yet. You know what the deal was; only when she’s fallen for me can I break up with her. I have to publicly do it is well, make her cry and then I win.”

Fred’s hand tightened its hold on mine and I let out a sharp breath. Merlin, he was a piece of work. Forget about not being able to break up with him, I was going to do it now – 

Fred pulled me back before I could step out from behind the pillar. He lowered his head towards mine, his lips by my ear, “Not yet. If you want to break up with him let’s make it public. Embarrass him to the point where he regrets thinking about doing something like this again.”

“How do I do that?”

“Truthfully I have no idea,” he admitted, quietly leading me back to the common room. “But let’s ask the reinforcements tomorrow after you’ve slept away the memory of _him_.”

* * *

The reinforcements that Fred had been talking about ended up being Angie and Ali. As today was a sunny Saturday, most of the students were outside enjoying the sun but we were the exception. I had stood at the top of the stairs to stop the stairs from changing into a slide in order to let Fred into our dorm. Angie and Ali sat on my bed, listening to Fred as he described the situation, adding his own colourful vocabulary to describe Bradley as he did so.

When Fred had finished talking, Angie and Ali both sat in silence. Fred and I shared a look only for me to jump when Angie started raging.

“That nerve of the arrogant shit.” She fumed, pacing up and down the room as she clenched her hands into fists at her side. “Who the hell does he think he is? Merlin, you’re the one out of his league and he has the nerve to cheat on you. When I see the little fucker -”

“Angie,” I said quietly, cutting her off before she could get any angrier. “We get it, he’s a piece of work.”

“What are we supposed to do to get back at him?” Fred asked from beside me.

“We could set Oliver on him.” Ali suggested, speaking up for the first time. “Merlin knows if we set him on Bradley then he might just wish for death.”

“I don’t know,” I said slowly, “I kind of want to keep Oliver out of my personal life. He told me not the date Bradley the moment that he had found out and well once he’s dealt with him he’ll just told me that he told me so. I’ve heard enough of that phrase to last me a lifetime.”

“I think I have an idea,” Angie said as she made her way back towards us, looking between Fred and I as she did so.

“What?” I asked apprehensively, recognising the look on her face. “Angie?”

Apparently I had no reason to know the plan and so Angie didn’t tell me the plan. She leaned over to whisper the plan into Fred’s ear and then Ali’s. After he had heard the plan Fred agreed to it easily and turned to look at me. 

“Do you think it’ll work?” I asked him. He nodded and I shrugged, “What have I got to lose; let’s do it.”

* * *

The next morning as we all sat for breakfast, Angie decided that there was enough people crowded into the great hall for the plan to be initiated. She said that the more people that were around to see this, the bigger his embarrassment would be. I still had no idea about what the plan was, but even George and Lee now knew what the plan was. 

George and Lee walked into the great hall and sat down beside Ali, opposite of Fred and I. Filling their plate with food they glanced up at us, looking between the pair of us.

“He’s on his way,” George said, passing his brother a plate of toast. “We passed him on our way here.”

“Alright so I know I said that I was fine with not knowing the plan,” I said after a moment, turning to look at Fred as he sat beside me, my back now to the entrance of the great hall, “But seeing as we’re about to actually start the plan, can I know what it is now?”

The only answer I got was Fred looking down at me with a grin on his face. I rolled my eyes only to pause slightly when Fred’s eyes narrowed as he looked over my shoulder. Glancing over my shoulder I saw Bradley walk into the great hall, hanging around the doors as he talked to one of his friends. 

Seeing my eyes on him, Bradley smiled and walked over towards us. Turning my back to him I glanced up at Fred. 

“Fred? The plan?”

“Just don’t hit me,” he warned quietly as he set an arm on my arm.

“Why would I hit you?” I asked back just as quietly as he tugged me along the bench and towards him. 

He moved even closer to me, his thigh pressing against mine. Lowering his head towards mine, he kept his eyes on mine. I let out a slight breath, feeling my heart start to thump erratically in my chest. 

“I’ve been wanting to do this since you slipped something into my pumpkin juice three years ago.”

Ducking his head down, Fred pressed his lips against mine. At the contact, any awareness of the people around me faded away and I found myself leaning into him, tilting my head upwards to get closer to him. He leaned back slightly, his nose brushing against mine as I heard the murmur of people’s voices as they talked about what they were seeing. I briefly heard Bradley call my name as I linked my hands behind Fred’s neck and leaned up to kiss him again. My lips parted under his and Fred took the chance to deepen the kiss, his hands clutching my waist to pull me against him. 

I finally remembered that we were in public at the sound of the ever-increasing whispers around us, I pulled away from Fred. Watching Fred from under my eyelashes, I moved away from him slightly, sliding my hands down to his chest. Taking in a breath I noticed a two raging male forms standing behind us. One belonging to Bradley and the other belonging to my brother.

“We need to do that again,” Fred said quietly, trailing a hand to my cheek and pulling my attention away from the two of them. “Soon and preferably with no one else around.”

“We should,” I agreed quietly just as Oliver, seeming to lose his patience, stalked towards us.

“Weasley!” Oliver bellowed curiously, walking towards us to take a hold of Fred’s robes in a tight fist. “Get your slimy hands _off _of my sister!”

Fred rose to his feet, watching Oliver wearily. He raised his hands up in surrender and gently removed Oliver’s hand from him. Fred leaned down to press a kiss to my cheek, he ducked away from Oliver and out of the hall. Oliver’s eyes narrowed onto Fred as he chased him out of the great hall.

And who said that Oliver couldn’t run?


	2. Epilogue: 6 Years Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I looked up into Fred’s face and admitted, “I don’t get it.”
> 
> His eyebrows rose in surprise, face going slack as he repeated, “You don’t get it?”
> 
> I nodded. “I don’t.”
> 
> “What do you mean you don’t get it?” he asked incredulously. “It’s a ring, in a box. What’s not to get?”

_6 YEARS LATER_

It still surprised me how busy the shop got sometimes. It got so busy that it wasn’t unusual for Fred to rope me into helping at the shop when I had a day off. Not that I did it out of the goodness of my heart – no, I always made sure he repaid me somehow. Normally that somehow was Fred cooking for me because sure enough, he was Molly’s son and her talent had passed on to him. 

“Babe,” Fred called out from the back of the shop. “Come here.”

“Just a minute Fred,” I called back, sending an apologetic smile to the customer in front of the counter. 

Turning my attention away from boyfriend and back to the customers. Wrapping up their purchase, the customers left with a smile and the next one took their place. The line from the till was extremely long and even with every till open, the line was still moving slowly. The shop was always busiest just before the school term started. I had forgotten that Fred had called me and instead focused on serving the customers and by the time the line had died down a little, I remembered Fred.

I closed the till and turned to head into the back room, only to find him standing behind me. He crossed his arms, looking down at me with a small smirk.

“Did you forget about your boyfriend?” He raised an eyebrow when I blushed guiltily. “You’re lucky I love you too much to get annoyed at you.”

His words made some of the women in the shop aww and mutter to themselves. I blushed even more fiercely at the attention and took his hand in mine, dragging him into the back of the shop to avoid the spectators. Once we were in the back of the shop, I let go of his hand and looked around the room. The notebook that he used to work on new products was lying open on the desk. I made my way towards the desk, sitting down at the chair and looking down at the page.

Interesting. 

Glancing over my shoulder at him, I asked, “Is this what you called me for?”

Fred nodded and made his way over to me. Putting his chin on top of my head, he wrapped his arms around my shoulders in a backwards hug. I smiled at the action, putting a hand on top of his arm.

“What do you think about it?” he asked, “I haven’t quite worked out the details yet but it’s an idea I’ve had for a while.”

“It sounds interesting.” I scanned the page again, “It’s sort of like a walking daydream, right?”

He hummed in confirmation, “I’m not quite sure if the magic will work yet so I’m going to need to start working on it.”

“Well I’ll help you however I can and I’m sure that once George gets back from his honeymoon, he’ll help as well.”

I went to rise from the seat but Fred removed his arms, putting his hands on my shoulders instead. He pressed lightly against my shoulders, silently telling me to sit back down. I did, looking up at him curiously. 

“There’s something else I want you to take a look at,” he explained before walking further into the room. 

I sat waiting for him, swinging my legs as I waited. He returned a few minutes later with something held in his hand. Returning to my side, he put a small box on the table in front of me and gestured for me to open it. I furrowed my eyebrows slightly and leaned forward to open the box. Once it was open I looked down into it and stared at it for a while before eventually leaning back in the chair.

I looked up into Fred’s face and admitted, “I don’t get it.”

His eyebrows rose in surprise, face going slack as he repeated, “You don’t get it?”

I nodded. “I don’t.”

“What do you mean you don’t get it?” he asked incredulously. “It’s a ring, in a box. What’s not to get?”

“Ok maybe I phrased it wrong,” I admitted, rising to my feet and turning to face him. “I’m just a bit confused.”

He got defensive, “Why?”

“Because it’s so unexpected Fred,” I said with a sigh.

“We’ve been dating for 6 years and you never expected it?” He raised an eyebrow and I shook my head. “Well, you had better say yes because I’ve spent the last two years convincing your brother to agree to let me marry you and I didn’t go through that for nothing.” I remained silently, secretly enjoying seeing him freak out so much. “I especially didn’t get punched in the face for you to say no.”

“Oliver punched you?” My eyebrows rose in shock.

“The first time I brought it up to him, he punched me.”

“That was why you had that black eye,” I said suddenly enlightened. “I knew you didn’t get hit by the boxing telescope. Merlin, he’s got such a big older brother complex.”

“You’re telling me,” he muttered under his breath. He cleared his throat and gestured back to the forgotten box. “So what’s your answer then?”

“Do I need to give you an answer?” I raised an eyebrow, hiding a smile as he shifted from foot to foot. “Don’t you already know my answer?”

“Well, it’d still be nice to have it said aloud.” He looked around the room, not making eye contact with me. “You know, just to avoid any confusion.”

I smiled for him to see and rose onto my toes, pulling him down to meet me halfway. Pressing a kiss to his lips, I pulled back slightly. He grinned affectionately down at me as I muttered against him, “Merlin, I love you, Fred Weasley.”

“Well it’s a good thing I can tolerate you too,” he replied, pulling away fully to give me a cheeky smile.


End file.
